YOU UNDERRATE GHANA AT YOUR OWN PERIL: – OTTO ADDO

Ghana’s interim trainer Otto Addo says their opponents will suffer a shock if they underestimate the Black Stars at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The former international winger sounded the warning following the draw in Doha, the Qatari capital, for the competition to be played later this year.

The four-time African champions were handed a tricky task to play Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H of the global showpiece event.

The 46-year-old, who was born in Germany, was brought in as the stand-in coach following the sacking of Serbian trainer Milovan Rajevac two months ago.

The unimpressive showing of the Black Stars at recent 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, which resulted in the axing of Rajevac, has sparked concerns in certain quarters that Ghana would be pushovers in their World Cup group.

But Addo, who is part of the technical staff at German giants Borussia Dortmund, believes with enough preparations the Black Stars can cause major upsets in Qatar.

“If we’re at 100 percent, we can beat anyone,” the former Ghana international winger, who played for the Black Stars at the 2006 World Cup, said.

“I think it is difficult and I have not really taken a critical look at the group but in football, everything is possible than in cup games because there are big teams in Divisions One and Third Division.

“But it is very interesting because you can win or lose against everything and at the level of the World Cup, everything is capable of causing an upset and so everything is possible.

“From my point of view, I was born in Germany and I would have loved that game but on the other hand, I look at Germany and Spain, it is good that Ghana is not in that group.”

Ghana will open their tournament at the 2022 World Cup by taking on Portugal before playing Uruguay and then wrap up their group campaign with a clash with South Korea.

Their fourth appearance at the global tournament will come months after they suffered a surprise group phase exit at the recent AFCON.

The Black Stars were knocked out of the group phase of the tournament in Cameroon without a win in a group comprising Morocco, Gabon and Comoros.

They suffered an opening group match defeat to the Atlas Lions, drew with the Gabonese before a shocking defeat to Comoros which led to their exit with just one point.

Addo says the Black Stars were unlucky during the tournament in Cameroon but believes their experiences will help them triumph in Qatar.

“The Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] was a collection of bad circumstances, one came after the other and they were very unlucky.

“The performance was poor but a lot of bad luck also worked against us.

Addo, who worked as the assistant trainer at Danish side Nordsjaelland before moving to Dortmund, believes his experiences of working with some of the best coaches in the world will help him bring out the best in the Black Stars players.

“I’ve been able to learn a lot from excellent coaches like Lucien Favre, Edin Terzic and Marco Rose.

“The fact that I deal with the players even more intensively and individually has also helped me in my dealings with the national players.”

The Black Stars will be making their fourth appearance at the World Cup after missing the previous competition held in Russia four years ago.

The four-time African champions made their first appearance in Germany in 2006 before playing at the 2010 and 2014 tournaments in South Africa and Brazil respectively.

Ghana’s best appearance came in 2010 when the Black Stars reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Uruguay – a team they will face again in Qatar.